Tag: Barack Obama (page 21)

Just in from the Los Angeles Times: Sen. Barack Obama's campaign sent emails out today indicating he's very close to announcng his Vice-Presidential candidate and he may make the announcement by text-message and e-mail:

An e-mail just sent out says Obama "is about to choose a running mate." And when word comes, it will come by text message, e-mail and on the campaign website. An interesting twist that could mean the word might be released this week even during Obama's family vacation.

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Bill Clinton will speak at the Democratic Convention in Denver Wednesday night, before the VP candidate. Wednesday night is also when the balloting takes place.

Sen. Barack Obama is off to Hawaii tomorrow on vacation. That means no VP pick until next week, less than 3 weeks out from the Convention.

There's still no resolution as to whether there will be a roll-coll vote at the convention or whether Hillary will ask for her name to be placed in nomination. Newsweek's Jonathan Alter, in Catharsis in Denver? today writes [More...]:

As both Big Tent Democrat and I wrote separately today, a Veep announcement from Sen. Barack Obama is not expected this week.

There was no announcement today in Indiana where he campaigned with current media front runner Sen. Evan Bayh.

Obama won’t be tipping his hand for running mate this week, one campaign official said, and he won’t do it next week either, at least not while he’s vacationing with his family in Hawaii. That vacation ends Aug. 16, giving Obama about a week and a half to make a decision in advance of the Democratic convention.

CBS will release a new poll tonight on voters' views of the importance of the vice-presidential candidate. Here are some of the findings:

30% say the choice is important to their vote. Among undecided voters, 47% say the choice will influence their vote.

The poll also shows a lack of confidence in both candidates on the question of which would make the right decisions on the economy:

Just 12 percent said they were very confident that Obama would and 9 percent said the same about McCain. Forty percent said they were somewhat confident that Obama would make the right decisions and 41 percent said that about McCain

As to making the right decisions about Iraq, it seems Obama's trip to the Mideast didn't help. While there's a lot of dissatisfaction with both candidates, McCain seems to be ahead on this issue: [More...]

It doesn't look like Sen. Barack Obama will name his running mate after all this week. It's hard to imagine him naming someone on Wednesday when he's leaving for vacation in Hawaii on Friday. But to add to the Evan Bayh speculation, there's this, from his birthday party-fundraiser in Boston Monday night:

Introducing Obama, Massachusetts Sen. John Kerry said: "I asked Barack Obama what he wanted for his birthday. He said, 'Indiana, Colorado and Virginia,' " said Kerry, referring to three potential swing states Obama hopes to win in the Nov. 4 election.

Since both Colorado Governor Bill Ritter and Sen. Ken Salazar have said they haven't been asked for documentation, that says to me Obama will pick either Kaine or Bayh. It would be crazy to pick Kaine who is personally anti-choice and has backed abortion restrictions. Between the Hillary supporters he's alienated and others who won't vote for a wishy-washy on abortion candidate, Kaine's negative impact on the ticket is obvious. That leaves Evan Bayh.

I suspect he will drop hints at his joint appearance with Bayh today in Indiana. Then his campaign can do a final round of polling before he makes a final decision.

One question: What if his final polling results indicate it has to be Hillary? [More...]

As I was driving and listening to CNN on Sirius earlier this afternoon, they replayed segments of John McCain and Barack Obama's latest energy speeches.

McCain said members of Congress should interrupt their vacations and recess and return to Washington to pass an energy bill.

"Congress should come back into session, and I'm willing to come off the campaign trail. I call on Senator Obama to call on Congress to... Come off their vacation and address this energy challenge to America and don't leave until we do, Republican and Democrat joining together," the four-term senator said.

Other Republicans are joining the call. Is this just a ploy for the Republicans to reconvene Congress during Obama's scheduled vacation to Hawaii? He leaves Friday. Vacations before a convention can be hazardous to a campaign, remember John Kerry's winsurfing fiasco?

Who will campaign for Obama in his absence? You guessed it -- Hillary Clinton.

In an earlier post about the rumor that Sen. Barack Obama will pick Evan Bayh as his running mate, I said I didn't have a problem with it. I may or may not be rethinking this. Bayh is not entirely consistent on crime issues, although he seems to have improved a bit in recent years (except for FISA and since I opposed any remake of FISA, even one without telecom immunity, I'm leaving that alone for the moment):

In 1996, Sen. Bayh spoke at the Democratic National Convention when Bill Clinton was nominated for a second term. We all know how bad Clinton was for Defendants' rights. (To his credit, he's come around quite a bit since being President -- maybe Bayh has too.) Anyway, Here's what Bayh said at the convention in 1996:

But a shadow threatens to spread over this new opportunity: Crime and violence. They prey upon our children and on our parents. Violence must be stopped. Violent criminals must be severely punished. And under President Clinton, they are.

Thanks to him, dangerous repeat offenders are going to jail for life - with no chance for parole. He is putting 100,000 more police on our streets. And that adds up. For each crime that's prevented - a victim is spared.

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Sen. Evan Bayh is going to introduce Sen. Barack Obama at an event in Bayh's home town of Indiana on Wednesday.

Is that any reason to cancel a baseball game the night before?

Bayh's team was scheduled to play "the One-Hitters", which is the team of Students for a Sensible Drug Policy. Team captain and SSDP executive director Kris Krane and SSDP's Government Relations Director Tom Angell think something is up and there could be a big announcement Wednesday by Obama and Bayh.

Since Tom thought it important enough to e-mail me about it, which he only does with big news, I'm thinking there may be something to this.

For the record, I'm fine with Sen. Bayh as the Vice Presidential candidate.

If you had to guess which presidential candidate would be attending the Sturgis Motorcycle Rally in South Dakota, would you pick the 47 year old or the 72 year old? If you picked Sen. Obama, you'd be wrong. McCain is making an appearance at Sturgis tomorrow night.

Sen. Obama will be celebrating his birthday in Michigan where he is set to unveil a new energy plan. Tomorrow night he'll be at a fundraiser in Boston.

If you had to guess which presidential candidate was consulting Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice on foreign affairs would you pick the one from her party -- a party which has frequently suggested she be added to the ticket as the VP candidate -- or the candidate from the other party? The Aspen Daily News, citing a new Time Magazine article, says it's Obama who has been consulting Condi Rice on foreign affairs.

Sen. Barack Obama has sent a letter to the DNC asking that the Florida and Michigan delegations be seated in full. As much as we knew this would happen, it still strikes a sore spot.

What's up with Maureen Dowd? Now she's suggesting American women, specifically those who supported Hillary, dislike Obama and won't for him. Her reasons are rather odd. First she compares Obama to romantic figures in Pride and Prejudice and Bridget Jones' Diary, saying women think Obama is arrogant and prideful, then she says it's because he's too skinny and then she makes it all about race.

I hate when writers paint with too broad a brush. I haven't heard a single woman say they would never vote for a man again.

I'm a former Hillary supporter who will gladly vote for Obama over McCain or a third party candidate. Taylor Marsh, among the most ardent Hillary supporter on the blogs during the primaries responds, criticizing the Hillary supporters who can't move on: [More...]

The Nation has an open letter to Sen. Barack Obama and is asking his supporters to sign it. The letter, Change We Can Believe In, seeks to hold Obama accountable to the positions he's endorsed while a candidate.

The letter will be delivered to the Obama campaign prior to the start of the Democratic National Convention on August 25. So far, more than 13,000 have signed. I just added my name. You can too. (Added: Big Tent Democrat writes why he won't sign here.)

Why is this necessary?

Since your historic victory in the primary, there have been troubling signs that you are moving away from the core commitments shared by many who have supported your campaign, toward a more cautious and centrist stance--including, most notably, your vote for the FISA legislation granting telecom companies immunity from prosecution for illegal wiretapping, which angered and dismayed so many of your supporters.

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